I am glad you enjoyed looking for the answers. You, however did not do quite as well as Tim. You have two that are right and four that are on the right track, but not right. You are right - I put an extra "e" in Shively, which is pretty bad since I live just south of Shively and did not catch that typo when I checked the post. I will give you an extra point for that, but you are still behind Tim.
Mike Veach

I still learned a lot - just not the answers to the questions, apparently!

09-12-2004, 17:36

JDKnaebel

Re: The questions

Ok. Here is my shot at the answers.

1) Who or what was "Miss Dixie"? The only reference that I could find was to the 1892 Kentucky Oaks winner, depicted on several early W.L. Weller whiskey labels.

2) Brown-Forman did not build the Early Times Distillery in Shively. What was it before they bought it and what year did they buy it? It was the Old Kentucky Distillery and it was purchased in 1940.

3) W.L. Weller and Bro. was founded in 1849. What was the name of the brother? Charles D. Weller

4)Who was I W Bernheim's brother-in-law? N.W. Uri

5) There were three large brands of Tennessee whisky before prohibition with Cascade and Old No.7 being two of the brands - who was the third distiller and what was his brand? Charles Nelson was the distiller and it was bottled under the Greenbrier label. The distillery was located in Robertson County.

6) Evan Williams was a distiller in Louisville in the late 18th and early 19th centuries - how many stills did he own and what were their capacity? He owned three stills. They had a capacity of 141, 130 and 93 gallons.

7)What year did Ancient Age first appear in the market? In 1936 as a whiskey. After WWII (1946) as a bourbon.

8) Who was the brother in James Thompson and Bro.? Frank Thompson

9) What was the "Old Blue House"? The only reference I could find was to a McKenna whiskey jug. Henry Bosquete's Old Blue House.

10) "She was bred in old Kentucky" was a slogan for what whiskey? Green River Wiskey

JD

09-13-2004, 06:30

bourbonv

Re: The questions

Good Job JD,
Not quite perfect with 3 answers that are close, but not quite there. Still you have taken the lead from Tim. If nobody does any better by this evening when I get home and post the answers I will award you the bottle.

So the challenge is out - find the complete correct answers before 7:00 and win the bourbon.

Mike Veach

09-13-2004, 15:46

bourbonv

And the answers are -

The answers to the trivia questions are as follows:

Question 1: "Miss Dixie" was the winner of the Kentucky Oaks and the bourbon connection is that she was owned by James E Pepper. I thought this would be an easy one since a simple search of SB.com would reveal the answer. I posted this information for Omar's post on bourbon and horse racing.

Question 2: It was the "Old Kentucky Distillery" and was bought by Brown-Forman in 1940. That is the same year they acquired Labrot and Graham. The book "Nothing Better On the Market", Brown-Forman's company history would give you that answer and I would think a call to the distillery might do that as well.

Question 3: Charles Dawkins Weller was W. L. Weller's brother and he was robbed and murdered in Clarksville, Tennessee on July 4 1863 while collecting money owed to the company. Most Weller histories I have seen discuss this event.

Question 4: N. (Nathan) M. Uri was I W Bernheim's Brother in law and he was partners with Bernheim for a short time before heading out on his own. Red Top Rye was his leading brand. I believe the Regans discuss this in the Book of Bourbon.

Question 5: The other major Tennessee whisky before prohibition was Greenbiar made by Charles Nelson. There are a lot of jugs and advertisements for this brand and I thought a quick search of ebay might bring this fact forth otherwise a look at preprohibition trade magazines or trade marks. A call to the Getz Museum might have yielded an answer. This was what I considered the toughest question.

Question 6: Evan Williams had 3 stills with capacities of 141, 130 and 93 gallons. Another tough question unless you called the Bernheim Distillery - they have a copy of one of his early licenses on display at the distillery. A call to the Filson could have earned you the same information since we have the original.

Question 7: According to the May 1936 issue of Fortune Magazine Ancient Age was first sold that year using a "Bourbon type" whiskey distilled and aged in Canada. I believe the Regans discuss this as well in the Ancient Age history section of the Book of Bourbon.

Question 8: James Thompson started in the industry with his cousin George Garvin Brown when the firm was called Brown-Thompson. He sold out his share to Forman in 1889 and went into business with his brother Francis P Thompson, who just came to America from Ireland. Francis died in the year 1891. Col. Frank Thompson was named for his uncle and later came to run the family business. This can be found in several of the Glenmore published histories of the company.

Question 9: The "Old Blue House" was the building that the Henry McKenna distillery bought as their sales offices in Louisville in 1881. Their jugs often list that fact as well as the History of the company in the Nelson County Standard.

Question 10: Green River was one of the most advertised whiskeys in the U.S. before prohibition. There slogans were "The Whiskey without a headache" and "She was bred in Old Kentucky". The later slogan also became part of a Three Stooges routine "She was bred in Old Kentucky but she's just a crumb down here".

I hope you enjoyed the trivia even though we only had three people try to answer the questions. JD is the winner and I will get him the bottle of Rebel Yell. I will see if I can come up with a consolation prize for the other two brave souls, Tim and Dave.

Mike Veach

09-13-2004, 18:08

brendaj

1 Attachment(s)

Re: The questions

JD,
Wheew! I'm speechless...well done, well done.
You don't post much, but you live pretty close to Kentucky... Are you going to make it to the Bourbon Festival this year? Hope to meet you.
Ok, here's a question for either you, or Mike...
In #5 you mention

Quote:

Charles Nelson was the distiller and it was bottled under the Greenbrier label...

Here's a photo Mike helped me shoot at the Getz, several years ago. (I sortof have an interest in the Greenbrier label.)
There must be a connection somehow. The distillery that bottled this whiskey was in Nelson County. Same label? Did the Greenbrier Distilling Company belong to Mr. Nelson? I know Double Springs came into the picture later. But, I'd love to hear the whole history.
Years ago, I had the chance to go thru the old Greenbrier Distillery, right before American Greetings built their plant on the property. I remember thinking their bottling plant was amazing, for the use of natural light.
Come on down for the Festival!
Bj

When doing research on the third major brand of Tennessee Whiskey prior to prohibition question, I found the following reference on the web:

The Robertson County distillery that grew to be the largest was located at Greenbrier. When it was started about 1867 by Charles Palmer of Springfield, its capacity was a modest five gallons a day. In 1870, Charles Nelson, a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, who had come to Nashville from Cincinnati, bought it to supply his wholesale grocery business in Nashville (at that time grocers sold whiskey). The whiskey was manufactured in Robertson County, but it was both bottled under the Greenbrier label and distributed from his Nashville warehouse on Second Avenue North. At its peak, the distillery employed a work force of fifteen to twenty-five men, including government inspectors and gaugers as well as the operators. By 1885 the Greenbrier Distillery manufactured 8,000 barrels of whiskey or a little less than 380,000 gallons a year, and paid annual taxes of over $341,000.

Hope this helps. You are right, I generally don't post much. Tend to sit back listen (or read) and say something every once and a while. That is till I know or meet more of the people. I am going to be at the Burbon Festival Thursday through Saturday. Hope to see you there as well.

Thanks for an enjoyable lesson (or ten)! I hope there is more trivia to come in the future!

Just out of curiosity regarding #2:

Quote:

Question 2: It was the "Old Kentucky Distillery" and was bought by Brown-Forman in 1940. That is the same year they acquired Labrot and Graham. The book "Nothing Better On the Market", Brown-Forman's company history would give you that answer and I would think a call to the distillery might do that as well.

I think the Regan book made reference to ET being acquired by Brown-Forman after closure due to prohibition and that B-F had a license to sell medicinal whiskey. Here B-F makes reference to acquiring ET in 1923. What was it they acquired? The whiskey that had been made but could not be sold? A different distillery site? Both? I get the impression I missed a significant part of the B-F/ET history in my searching.

09-14-2004, 06:14

bourbonv

Re: And the answers are -

Brown-Fprman was one of the companies with a license to sell Medicinal Spirits during prohibition. In 1923 they acquired the remaining stocks and rights to the brand Early Times, but there was no distillery involved in the sale.
Mike Veach